Modern Queen Crowd Heard In ‘Bohemian Rhapsody’ Movie

The sound engineer who worked on the Queen biopic Bohemian Rhapsody revealed that a modern-day audience can be heard during the Live Aid reenactment that serves as the movie’s climax moment.

Paul Massey – who’s been nominated for seven Oscars during his career – set microphones around the O2 venue in London when Queen + Adam Lambert played there in July 2018. The resulting audio was used to reinforce the original recordings from 1985, which acted as a base layer for the movie soundtrack.

“I managed to get two hours of time with no audience and have all of the songs played through the Queen PA at full level," Massey told the Hollywood Reporter in a recent interview. "We mic'd all around the stadium.”

That secured him the “acoustic stadium feel” that he wanted. Then, once the show was in full flow, he made some further recordings. “Brian May stopped the concert at one point and said, 'Who would like to be in the film?'" he recalled. "So we had 10,000 people doing a single clap and then another and another."

Ironically, the only time the live recordings weren’t used was when Bohemian Rhapsody received its world premiere at London’s Wembley Arena in October. Massey realized his added depth would work against the movie in the 12,500-capacity venue.

“It would just be a big reverb wash going on at the premiere,” he explained, “because we'd be playing back something that was including stadium reverb and then that stadium itself was going to create its own reverb.” The mix he created for the premiere was the only time it was used, he added, noting that it was “very good of the producers and Fox” to allow the edit to be made.

Meanwhile, Bohemian Rhapsody star Rami Malek – who won a Golden Globe and is expected to receive an Oscar nomination for his portrayal of Freddie Mercury – confirmed speculation that he was in a relationship with co-star Lucy Boynton. She played Mary Austin, a former girlfriend of Mercury’s who remained with him as his closest friend and nursed him through the final weeks of his life.

People reported that Malek spoke out during an awards ceremony last week. “Thank you, Lucy Boynton," he said. "You have been my ally, my confidant, you are my love. I appreciate you so much.”